Early Morning Conversation
by RosaKei
Summary: Late at night, Mikasa finds herself struggling to fall asleep. As a result, she decided to leave her room to get some fresh air. Unexpectedly, Eren found her and they have a little talk. (Based on Anon's Request on my tumblr; prompt by Anon is stated in my Author's notes at the end.) (CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS)


**Disclaimer:I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan nor its characters.**

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It was around four in the morning. The sun had barely risen, and here was Mikasa—awake and outside seated on a bench, staring idly at the cloudless sky. She had found trouble sleeping. And surprisingly it wasn't insomnia that was at fault. Instead, it had been a nightmare that forced her awake and made her restless.

Just yesterday, Eren had sheepishly confessed that he didn't want anyone to inherit his titan abilities because he cared and treasured them way too much. Of course, Mikasa was touched and happy to hear this—_that Eren cared about them deeply._ After all, it wasn't every day that you hear Eren be so open about his feelings… well, at least his positive feelings.

And yet, despite yesterday's positive events, the nightmares still came and haunted Mikasa. She had thought she had shoved those fears of hers aside, so that she could be more optimistic about things… but it seemed like that that wasn't the case. Those fears of hers, had soon morphed into those ghostly nightmares that planned to drag her down into exhaustion.

"What are you doing up so early?" A familiar voice called, and Mikasa recognized it in an instant. She snapped out of her day-dreaming, before turning towards the direction of masculine voice, to only meet Eren's emerald orbs. "Eren…? What are you doing out here?" The raven queried back instead of replying him.

"I was woken up by Connie's snoring, and just as I was about to go back to sleep, I glanced out the window to see you out here alone even before the sun had risen. You do know we don't have to be up early today, right? Commander Hanji gave us an off day since we did a good job with the train tracks the other day. And even if we did, work doesn't start at four in the morning." Eren raised a brow before he continued, "And you still haven't answered my question, why are you here?"

There was this particular sternness in his tone, as if he were mad at her for not getting proper rest. But Mikasa knew that underneath that was concern. How could he not be concerned, after finding her awake at such an odd time?

Mikasa sighed softly, "I just… couldn't sleep, and decided to go outside for some fresh air." What she said wasn't necessarily a lie, but it wasn't the complete truth. She didn't feel like telling him about the nightmare she had just experienced… after all, it involved _him._ Though, Mikasa was sure that Eren could tell that something was off. At times like this, he could read her like an open book.

"Then do you want to go out for a walk?" Eren asked, "It'll release stress." He had said this as if he had read Mikasa's mind, as if he knew that there was something heavy weighing on her shoulders and her mind.

"…Sure." Mikasa agreed, before she stood up and went to walk alongside the brunette.

Their walk was at first, full of silence. Regardless, Mikasa didn't seem bothered. She didn't feel any form of awkwardness either. With Eren by her side, her heart was always at ease. And in this silence, she found some form of comforting peace—solace, perhaps? It wasn't as if this silence was full of tension, anyway.

It had been a while since she had strolled around with Eren. A few years back, they had always been training non-stop to combat the titans and Eren had always been busy with other things regarding his titan-shifter abilities. They barely had any free time like this. Sure, titans were still an issue to them now. However, in this period of time, Mikasa couldn't help but find some normalcy in it, especially in _this_ moment.

_It would be nice_, Mikasa thought, _if we could fully live normally, in complete peace._

But she knew very well, that the war wasn't over yet.

"Is the Hizuru thing bothering you?" Eren queried as his eyes glimpsed towards her, "You know, with Azumabito, their intentions and whatnot?"

It had also been a while since Eren showed this amount of concern for her. And she wondered why. Normally, it'd be the other way around. Granted, she had always known Eren cared for her… he just never showed it so openly, not to mention he had been too fixated, distracted and obsessed over titan-killing back then.

"No…it isn't that." Mikasa mumbled before adjusting her red scarf a little upon feeling a cold gust of wind blowing by.

Again, there was this silence. But now, it didn't seem so serene anymore, especially when she could feel Eren's irritation since the raven wasn't telling him what was wrong.

A few moments went by until Eren spoke again, "…Listen, Mikasa… I know something's bothering you… tell me."

It sounded more like a demand, even if he had said it in a soft way. He wanted an answer, a truthful one.

It had been quite some time that Mikasa had ever expressed her emotions to Eren, or rather, had conversations that _weren't _about titan-killing and their responsibilities as soldiers. For the most part, she had always been lecturing him about his recklessness, nagging at him, telling him to be more careful and the list goes on.

The last time she had fully expressed her emotions and thoughts to him was when she had thought that they were going to be killed, or more specifically, eaten by a titan. It was that day, where she had thanked him for everything.

She wondered if he remembered that day. It wasn't too long ago, but with everything going on regarding Paradis's future, it wouldn't be too surprising if Eren had forgotten what she had said. Though, she'll be a little sad if he did, even if she claimed to herself that she didn't mind.

Without the need of anymore persistence for the brunette's part, Mikasa resigned. "I just had a nightmare." She murmured and then continued, figuring that he wanted to know its contents. "About losing you… losing Armin… both of you don't have much time left after all… especially you."

Mikasa was undoubtedly heavy-hearted as she said this. As much as she didn't want to show it, she couldn't. She didn't want to think about it when that time comes. She wished she could have a normal and joyful conversation with Eren, and not chat about heavy topics like this.

But he asked, so she answered. There wasn't a point in hiding things from him, really.

It took Mikasa a while, but she noticed that Eren had stopped in his tracks. She turned towards him with a little worrisome look, beginning to regret informing him about her nightmares. _Maybe it was a bad idea_, she thought, _to bring up…about his own death._

"I'm sorry." She instantly apologised as she felt guilt pouring in. "I—"

"Don't worry about that, Mikasa." Eren suddenly said, with a little scold in his voice. He didn't seem angry or irritated at all as what Mikasa had initially anticipated. He then took a few steps closer to her. "You shouldn't worry about things like that… it'll all work out in the end, trust me." He reassured.

But Mikasa didn't feel reassured, she couldn't. She wanted to trust in his words, but she was hesitant and even afraid. _How could Eren be so sure?_

Eren sighed, he had already predicted that his words wouldn't be enough to calm the raven down. He understood the limited time he had left, but now wasn't the time to be worried about that or rather, be so fixated on that fact.

Eren still had goals to achieve, and he was more focused on that for now.

On another note, Eren had also realised how things were a little more normal now. They weren't going on titan-killing expeditions or sending Eren out to be an experimental toy. Just yesterday, everything felt… tranquil, or at least, a little less chaotic to say the least.

And seeing Mikasa like this, made him want to help her enjoy this tranquillity while it lasted. He didn't want her to worry about him anymore. But this time rather than yelling that to her, he went with a softer approach.

He wanted to give her as much normalcy as he could, before things would become tensed again.

"Since when did your hair get so long?" He asked, changing the topic—which had caught the raven a little off guard, but she went with it anyway. It wasn't as if she wanted to talk about gloomy things anyway.

"…I don't know," She responded plainly, "I tied it up in a small ponytail anyway, so it won't get in the way… and it's not like we're going to use the 3DMG gear anytime soon probably... speaking of which…" Mikasa trailed off, before taking a glance at Eren's dark brown hair to which had grown too. Except unlike Mikasa, he didn't bother tying it up as of now.

Subconsciously, Mikasa's hand reached out to brush his hair a little. "You told me to cut my hair so it wouldn't bother me… it's ironic that you grew it out…" Eren gave a nervous chuckle in response, a little taken aback when she had touched his hair and maybe a little embarrassed. But he decided not to say anything of it.

Though before he could reply, Mikasa had continued, "Not to mention… it's quite messy and tangled…Eren, I know you have never kept long hair before… do you not know how to maintain it—"

"_Hey!_" He huffed slightly before gently moving her hand away from his hair before it could've tangled itself. His cheeks reddened, highlighting both his embarrassment and how flustered he was over Mikasa's little lecture. He knew his hair could be messy at times, but he didn't think someone would've pointed it out. Plus he had just woken up, what did she expect? Hell, he wondered why her hair wasn't in its usual bed-hair messy state. Did she switched shampoo or something? Who knows?

Mikasa began to chuckle and Eren noticed how the mood seemed to have lightened. "H-Hey! What are you laughing about?"

Mikasa only continued to laugh, she hadn't seen Eren this bashful in years. It was nice to know, that even this man who shouldered the burden of the future of humanity, could still have this childish, cute little side of him. It was nice to know that he hadn't lost himself completely in this madness… at least, not yet.

"Nothing." Mikasa smiled, and though Eren didn't say it out loud, he was glad that she seemed to have forgotten about her nightmare. Though, he wished she wouldn't tease him like that… then again, seeing her smile was worth it. He never liked hurting her.

Eren gave a small roll of his eyes, before he clicked his tongue a little as he began to walk again at a quicker pace. "… I'll have you know my hair is fine." He grumbled slightly, still a little embarrassed.

Mikasa cackled before chasing after him, "I was only jok—"

"Hey Mikasa," He suddenly cut her off, and it seemed like his reddened cheeks began to lighten as his tone grew a little more solemn… a little more _protective_, "… next time if you have any trouble… just come to me… alright? I'll always be by your side… okay?"

Now, it was Mikasa's turn to flush. When Eren didn't hear a response, he turned to see the tomato coloured cheek raven. "Why are your cheeks reddening?" He asked, clueless.

It really astounded Mikasa sometimes, how he could see through her and read her like an open book when it came to her troubles. But when it came to _that_ particular emotion to which she was feeling, he was clueless.

"It's the sun." She excused, though the sun had barely came out yet. Now, it was her who began to quicken her pace while she hid herself in her scarf. "Let's… head back." She murmured.

Eren only scoffed, not thinking too much of it. "Yeah, yeah…" He smiled, before catching up to her as they walked back to base, where a new day began.

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**Author's Notes: **

**This was something i wrote based on a request on tumblr by an Anon (Anonymous user). The request/prompt by the Anon was:**

_**Prompt: I saw your post asking for ideas to write and I would love to read more canonverse SNK fanfics that take place during the timeskip. They were all growing up together into adulthood and there weren't any titans/rumbling to worry about. Chapter 108 was the closest thing we got of the 104th squad being together. Any Eremika interactions during that period will be great to read, ****specifically because they weren't working back then, just acting like normal people do.**_

**And i got excited upon receiving a first request and ended up writing it (when really i should be studying now... WHOOPS :p) well im going back to studying now.. haha hopefully-**

**If you want to check out my tumblr to request for future stories/fanfics (which i'll write when my _dreadful_ exams are over T_T), **

**My tumblr is: _rosaline-kei _**

**_Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! I'd Love To Hear Your Thoughts!_**


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